“What does he (or she) think (or feel) about me?” In the whole field of card divination this is one of the most asked questions online and one of my least favorite. In my experience people are a hotbed of conflicting thoughts and feelings that change from moment to moment and circumstance to circumstance. To say nothing of one’s head and heart giving us different messages! You think of your sweetie with longing as you anticipate going out with him that evening, then he calls to say he’ll be watching a game with his buddies instead. Suddenly you think he’s a scumbag and plan how you won’t be available when he wants some. Meanwhile, you’re facing an evening at home alone. Or, “he hasn’t called in a week—not since . . .” Or, “I want to ask her out, but am unsure if she sees me as anything other than an annoying co-worker.”

An old booklet from the 1890s might have just the spread for you. Taken from the Livre du Destin or Book of Destiny card deck printed by Grimaud in Paris, this simple layout may be exactly what you need. Furthermore, it may have been an inspiration for the core of the original Celtic Cross spread. I’ve included some clarifying remarks in brackets.

Livre du Destin (Chartier-Marteau & Boudin/Grimaud), 1890.

“How To Read Somebody’s Thoughts”

“After shuffling and cutting the cards, ask the person to choose any five of them, and lay them down as follows:

“The first is laid across the blank one, which represents the person whose thoughts you are reading.” [Choose a Significator for that person. Next, fan the shuffled deck, and have the querent choose a card which you lay across the Significator.] “This shows what his heart is feeling.”

“A second one is laid at the top, and shows his thoughts.”

[These first two cards—following the Significator—depict what is consciously going on in the person’s heart and head.]

“Another is placed at the bottom, and represents what he tramples under foot.” [This is “beneath him”—the more unconscious feelings or thoughts that he (or she) is squelching or ignoring.]

“On the left is what he is fond of and on the right what he cares nothing for.” [That is, what he likes and dislikes in the querent. Or, possibly, a person he likes and a person he dislikes?]

Try this with your favorite divination deck and let us know, in the comments, how it works for you.

Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards from United Novelty, Mfc Company, Chicago, circa 1920-30 are a 36-card deck with playing cards inset and meanings given on each card. The instructions are in Polish and English and the Lady (significator) is clearly dressed as a 1920s flapper. At least 22 of the 36 cards are close cognates with the Lenormand cards. A few of the other card images are found on other cartomancy decks of the period. See this post in which Camelia Elias demonstrates using the deck.

They were printed by the Valmor Company of Chicago (also doing business as King Novelty; United Novelty appear to be distributors) and so are sometimes called the Valmor Fortune-Telling Cards. This hints at an interesting crossover between the immigrant community of Jewish founder Morton and Rose Neumann (the Polish connection?) and the African-American hoodoo tradition.

A surprisingly large number of hoodoo mail-order companies were founded by Jewish chemists who perceived a need for affordable beauty products and who then expanded into incense, candles and hoodoo potions. Two years after Morton Neumann started Valmor he married Rose and then the whole approach to Valmor advertising changed radically. The company became known for its illustrations featuring fair-skinned, black-haired beauties in seductive, sexy scenes. The original advertisment illustrator was African-American artist, Charles Dawson. Could he have been the artist of this deck?

It’s interesting that Morton and Rose Neumann, by the mid-20th century, began investing their wealth in 19th century European art and later in American art, amassing what is considered today to be the foremost and most valuable private family art collection in America. They tried to keep it intact until the death of Rose and son, Hubert, when an inheritance tax of $50 million forced the sale of several works.

The Old Gypsy Cards Fortune Telling Game from Addison Products Co, Chicago (no-date – 1940s?) is an identical deck, also with instructions in English and Polish. Looking similar to the Gypsy Witch, and with elements appearing in Whitman’s “Old Gypsy” deck, this deck has its own assignation of playing cards such that the suits & numbers appear in sequence according to the numbering of the cards, and they accord most closely with the usual French and English playing card meanings. While most of the deck includes Lenormand-like cards there are also unique ones like 23-A Beautiful Lady, 27-The Bacchanalian, 29-The Loving Couple, 31-The Fairy, 32-The Shepherd, 11-The Dancing Persons. Cards like 20-the Horseshoe, 30-The Eye and 35-The Duel are found in other “gypsy” decks that I talk about here. In 1948 this same deck was published by Wehman Bros. but without the text.

I was unable to find this particular deck in a King Novelty (Valmor) catalog but I did come across their 1944 catalog ad for a nearly identical deck called Madame Sigma Fortune Telling Cards. You could purchase both the deck and book together for $1.35!

Here’s a interesting comparison of the three Whitman “Old Gypsy” deck editions (top), while (below) is the Horseshoe/Trefoil from the Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards (which, along with the Key, Gentleman & Lady cards, have no playing cards printed on them), and two from the Gypsy Dream deck – Horn of Plenty and Horseshoe.

When I began collecting Lenormand decks I soon discovered that in the 19th and early 20th centuries they were far more common in the United States than I had imagined. It appears that German-American immigrant communities, centered mostly in New York and Chicago, published a continuous stream of decks, from different publishers, to meet local demand. The majority of these decks contained the original, 1846 “Philippe” instruction sheet, unchanged, in both German and in English-translation. This was of particular interest to me as my German-American great-grandmother was known to have the “sight” and read cards for visitors in her New Orleans kitchen. I like to think she would have known the Lenormand deck.

Since the 175-year-old German divination deck known as the Petit Lenormand burst onto the English-language scene about five years ago, nearly a hundred new, published decks have appeared and a half-a-dozen books and ebooks. [And by 2018 it’s become a divination staple.] Even though USGames has published a German “Blue Owl” Lenormand deck for nearly fifty years, Lenormand has remained an oddity, superseded by a similar, though more negative, “Gypsy Witch” deck, with 52 instead of 36 cards, that quickly came to dominate the American cartomancy scene.

We now know that the Lenormand (also known as the Petit Lenormand) cards had nothing to do with the famous French fortune-teller, Mlle. Lenormand, merely co-opting her name. The date of their inception has been pushed back to the late 18th century with the multi-purpose “Game of Hope” from Nuremburg and similar Coffee-Cards from Vienna.

Here is the little-known American branch of the family. Anyone with an early American edition not included here, please contact me with a photo and as much information as you have so we can add to the list.

This is my earliest American deck. While the box cover is in French, the booklet is in German (my copy is without these), and it was published in New York, for the immigrant community. Charles Magnus (1826-1900) was a print publisher, map dealer, bookseller and stationer working in New York City from 1850 to 1899, having arrived from Germany around 1848. He is especially known for his maps of Civil War battlefields. The deck is on matt cardboard. It was printed in black or red (depending on the card suit) and then colored by stencil in red, blue and yellow with green being a combination of yellow and blue. The size is 1-5/8″ x 2-7/8″ (4.1 cm x 7.3 cm) – a little taller than today’s mini decks. (A much later German deck of the same style appears at the Lenormand Museum online.)

Madam Morrow cards first came out some time after the death of an infamous fortune-teller (arrested many times) who worked in New York and Philadelphia. She described herself thusly in an advertisement:

The first edition, mentioned in the Uniform Trade List of July 1867 as Madam Morrow’s Fortune Telling Cards, was an exact replica of the German Kunst-Comptoir, Berlin deck of 1854. (They were also published by McLoughlin as Madam Le Normand’s Mystic Cards of Fortune in a simple b&w printing – see Wehman Bros deck below.) In 1886 a new edition was copyrighted – a beautifully etched masterpiece (large cards above)! Note that the Court Cards have been redone to match those found in contemporary playing card decks. An oddity of this deck, which influenced a few other decks, is that three of the Queens are switched from their normal Lenormand card placements. Crossroads should be the Queen of Diamonds (originally Bells) instead of Spades, while the Queen of Spades should be Bouquet and the Queen of Hearts, Stork. All the other cards are correct. The booklet is only in English, but it is an exact translation of the standard German instruction sheet. The illustrations on the boxes changed frequently. The deck is a standard poker size.

Mlle. Lenormand’s L’Oracle and Appendix: 36 Illuminated Cards with English and German Description for sale by Fitzgerald Publishing Corporation, 18 Vesey St., New York (circa 1916+).

My copy came without a box or book, so the closest I’ve come to identifying it is via a deck that sold from the Fitzgerald Publishing Corporation edition, which makes it 1916 or later. The Dick & Fitzgerald Publishing Co was originally founded in 1858 on Anne St. and they did publish playing card decks. Upon the death of the founder’s son in 1816, the Fitzgerald Publishing Corporation at 18 Vesey St. came into being, known mainly for editions of theatrical plays and music. Whether this deck was a carry-over from the earlier company or not will not be known until an earlier box is found. The style is a near exact replica of one of the earliest Lenormand decks: black & white cards from Kunst-Comptoir in Berlin, Germany in 1854 (see the early Madam Morrow deck). This particular deck is notable not only for the fine coloring of the scenes but also for the lovely pink and blue sky. The deck is a standard poker size.

J.H. Singer, New York, (1880’s-1902) published this chromolithography deck on heavy cardstock with children’s-book-like illustrations under at least two names (see above). Singer also published a planchette game and a miniature theatre. While the 36 cards are all standard Lenormand, they feature non-standard numbers, and many of the playing card correspondences have changed. The instruction sheet gives very brief keyword meanings, some of which are different than usual:
13-Mountain (9 of Clubs) =”friendship.”
8-Key (6 of Diamonds) =”insight to secrets or mysteries, best of a bargain.”
18-The Stars (10 of Hearts) =”foretells.”

This deck is found fairly often on eBay. It is a simple red & black version of the Kunst-Comptoir, Berlin deck of 1854 and the same as the b&w Mystic Cards of Fortune (see above). Notice that the Ship is quite different, while the other cards are identical. There’s some indication that publishers would substitute their own country’s ships and flag. Although I can’t see enough detail on most of the flags, this one does appear to be an American flag. This edition is instantly recognizable because the black playing card suits have red pictures and the red suits have black pictures. The Queens are the only cards with no suit markers (due to the confusion that arose with the McLoughlin deck?). Several of the outer boxes have a blank space following the words “Published by” which suggests that Wehman Bros of New York may have merely been a distributor for decks printed elsewhere. The instructions are printed in both English and German. This small deck measures 2-1/8″ x 3″.

This deck was quite a find. It contains the same 36 figures that are found in a standard Lenormand deck but the Queens are switched around yet again! Snake is the Queen of Spades (rather than the Queen of Clubs). The drawings are original to this deck and include the unusual device of a curtain being pulled back by a winged child to reveal the pictorial scene. “Self-explaining” verses in furled banners in both German and English give the meanings on each card. The minimalistic instruction sheet is also in German and English, telling one to lay the cards in four rows of nine cards with the Significator always in the center of the top row. The card backs feature an advertisement for John Miles Wholesale Millinery Goods, which suggests that a printer offered them as promotional products to their business customers. The cards are a little taller than usual, measuring 2-3/8″ x 3-5/8″. The back of the box has this interesting explanation for the deck:

“These Cards have been used for years with unvarying success by Queen Sabina, one of the most foremost Queens of the Romany Rye. Venerated by her subjects for her good qualities, she is also regarded by them with a superstitious awe, and guarded with such a jealous care that no one outside the inner circle is allowed to see or hold converse with her, and she has taken this means of holding communication with the outside world, so that they may partake of her wondrous gift of lifting the curtain of the future for all who have faith.”

While these cards look quite different than the Lenormand decks we are used to, they are actually exact matches to the standard deck. Dr. Jayne and Son was a patent medicine company that existed from 1843 to 1930. They used almanacs, trading cards, recipe books, a dream & fortune telling book, striking graphics and this deck to promote their medicines, primarily to families, many of whom were functionally illiterate. The vulture (Mice) card probably darkened from being exposed to the sun. The back of the cards and the box have the same design. There is an error in my deck where the Ship should have been the 10 of Spades, the card mistakenly shows the 8 of Clubs. Interestingly the Jack of Hearts card should have a red playing card and black emblem, but as the emblem is a heart the colors are reversed so the heart can be red. They are roughly poker size.

Box for unknown deck (picture on the left). Is this another Lenormand deck? It says the instructions are in German and English and there are 36 cards. It was published in New York. Does anyone have any further information?

All of these decks are on matt card-stock that’s easily torn or bent, rather than the glossy-finished flexible and quality stock found on many 19th century European decks. Compared to the fine artistry and the best in chromo-lithography of the European decks, these American decks seem like poor cousins, but I find them to be outstanding examples of a folk-tradition. They add much to an overlooked aspect of immigrant and everyday life here in America.

The Evening World’s Home Magazine (New York) reproduced the original “Philippe” (heirs of Mlle. Lenormand) Instruction Sheet in their October 19, 1903 issue. Included are the standard Kunst-Comptoir 1854 images that one is encouraged to cut out to make one’s own deck. Here is the article if you wish to print it out and do the same. Click the picture for a large version.

Lenormand Off-Shoots:

The Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Playing Cards

As early as 1894 Frederick J. Drake & Co. of Chicago, Illinois began publishing an expanded 52-card version of the Lenormand cards called Mlle. Le Normand’s Gypsy Witches Fortune Telling Cards. It was based on a 48-card deck from Danner G. Mühlhausen, Berlin that in 1875 had added twelve extra illustrations to the original deck (plus incorporated an alchemical-looking script in place of the playing card insets) – see later Adolf Engel edition (1880?) here. The Gypsy Witches deck switched all the playing card associations around, increased the cards to 52 and included a Joker card. By 1903 it was being published by Home Game Co., and later by the United States Playing Card Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio. Today, as the Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Playing Cards, it is available from USGames.

Old Gypsy Fortunetelling Cards are from United Novelty, Mfg Company, Chicago, c. 1920 – a 36-card deck with playing cards inset and meanings given on each card. The instructions are in Polish and English and the Woman is clearly dressed as a 1920s flapper. They were printed by the Valmor Company of Chicago (also doing business as King Novelty. United Novelty were distributors) and so are sometimes called the Valmor Fortune-Telling Cards. This hints at an interesting crossover between the immigrant community of Jewish founder Morton Neumann (the Polish connection?) and the African-American hoodoo tradition. Could African-American artist, Charles Dawson, who did Valmor ads, have been the artist of these cards? See post using this deck by Camelia Elias.

They are identical to the Old Gypsy Cards Fortune Telling Game from Addison Products Co, Chicago (no-date – 1940s?), also with instructions in English and Polish. Looking similar to the Gypsy Witch, and with elements appearing in Whitman’s deck (see below), this deck has its own unique assignation of playing cards (the suits & numbers appear in sequence in the numbering of the cards), which accord most closely with the usual French & English playing card meanings. While most of the deck includes Lenormand-like cards there are also unique ones like 21-The Fairy and 27-The Bacchanalian. Cards like 30-The Eye are found in other “gypsy cards” mentioned here. In 1948 this same deck was published by Wehman Bros. but without the text.

I was unable to find this particular deck in a King Novelty (Valmor) catalog but I did come across their 1944 catalog ad for a nearly identical deck called Madame Sigma Fortune Telling Cards. You could purchase both the deck and book together for $1.35!

This is a very rare, unusual 36-card deck. Eighteen cards are the same or very similar to Lenormand cards, although in a different numerical order, and 22 cards share some (if not exact) similarities with the Old Gypsy FT Cards just above. The other cards share similarities with other cartomancy decks, like the Eye, Cat, Coins (bags of money) and Cornucopeia, but this deck also features unusual cards like the Stairs, the Horse, the Bee, the Ivy, and the Candle. There’s no instruction sheet as all the meanings and most significant combinations are printed on the cards.

Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards, Whitman Publishing Co., 1940.

This 36-card deck probably originated in Germany—see Das Echte Wahrsagespiel from approximately 1925-30, featuring identical pictures but with fake “alchemical-kabbalistic script” in the yellow insets instead of the numbers and titles. This, in turn, was a variation of the Mühlhausen/Engel (Berlin) 48-card deck of 1875/80.

This version is essentially a Lenormand with twelve cards that vary from the standard—some a mere substitution of a different image and others, entirely new but drawn out of the Mülhausen/Drake selection. Several of the non-standard cards appear in the two previous alternative decks. This deck features an emphasis on love and marriage. There have been three different artistic renditions of the Whitman deck, all designed in the style of children’s book illustrations. There are no playing card associations.

Here’s a interesting comparison of fortune cards: In the top row: the three different Whitman editions. On the bottom row, left to right, is the Horseshoe/Trefoil from the Old Gypsy deck (playing cards are included on all but this card and the Man & Woman cards), and two cards from the Gypsy Dream deck – Horn of Plenty and Horseshoe.

A few other American variations on the Lenormand deck began appearing in the late 20th century, but that’s for another post.

In 1724 eighteen-year-old Benjamin Franklin and his good friend, James Ralph, travel to London, ostensibly to buy printing equipment for Franklin’s first print shop, but instead they hang out at coffee houses, attend the theatre and other entertainments, and read voraciously, with Ralph living off an almost destitute Franklin. Franklin returns to Philadelphia eighteen months later. Remaining in England, Ralph attempts to become a man of letters, turning his hand to poetry, plays, and social commentary, writing The Taste of the Town: or a Guide to all Publick Diversions, by A. Primcock (1728/30).Since theatres are rowdy places where one goes mostly to “chat, intrigue, eat and drink” (and tell fortunes?) Ralph advocates the pleasures of “low theatre,” farce, and tales of British folk heroes instead of the lofty classics. He meets the young Henry Fielding, who is just starting his writing career (Fielding is credited with writing some of the first English novels including Tom Jones and creating the first municipal police force, the Bow Street Runners).
Ralph’s theories influence Fielding’s most successful plays, one named The Farce and the other, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb, the Great. They would remain life-long friends and collaborators.

Fielding’s The Farce features two main characters: Luckless, a penniless writer and Jack. A farce “is a comedy that aims at entertaining the audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable. They are incomprehensible plot-wise . . . and viewers are encouraged not to try to follow the plot in order to avoid becoming confused and overwhelmed.” (Wikipedia)

Later in 1730, the same theatre presents a short, anonymous play, Jack the Giant-Killer: A Comi-Tragical Farce. It is a striking parody of James Ralph’s theatrical theories and Fielding’s comedy featuring the poet Plotless and the “hero,” Jack. This parody could have been written by Fielding and Ralph themselves as a spoof of their own theatrical endeavors. Or it could have been written by a rival playwright who hoped to make a laughing stock of the two of them. In the play, the Giants tell Queen Folly (who has usurped Reason) in a self-congratulatory way,

“’Twas we who snatch’d you from Obscurity, and to the grinning World disclos’d your Charms. . . . We vow ourselves your ever grateful champions. . . . Folly for ever, say we all.”

Hogarth, preparations for “The Devil to Pay in Heaven” (1738).

What is of most interest to us is that when Jack arrives to champion Reason and defeat the royal Sorceress Folly, Folly declares that before setting off to battle,

“First we’ll examine the Decrees of Fate, in mystic Coffee-Cups and Tea reveal’d; The new-invented Arts of Snuff and Cards, Shall all be try’d, the grand Event to show, If we, my Friends, shall conquer, or the Foe.”

So here, in 1730, we have the first mention of fortune telling with playing cards along with a description of the method and meaning of a reading, plus in the same sentence we find tasseomancy, which would later be linked with the meanings of Lenormand cards.

I’ll present the text with several unacknowledged cuts so as to focus on the readings.

SCENE: the Palace of Folly

A Table, Coffee-Cups, Folly, and the four Giants turning the Cups; three Women looking into them.

First Woman. I see a Gallows in this Cup, that must be for the Traitors to be sure: Here are small Crosses indeed, but you stand above ‘em. [The Significator is above the Crosses.]

Second Woman. Here is a Cock crowing in this, that betokens good News—Does not your Majesty expect a Letter? I see ’tis from the South—it comes from that Part of the Compass—the Cup being round, we have at once every Quarter of the Globe before us—your Allies are all firm to your Interest. But please to throw again—Your Majesty knows the third time is most to be depended on.

(To Gormillan (one of the giants)): You stand on a huge high Mountain, with several People about you, who seem to beg something. [I see] a Ring, my Lord, over a fine Lady’s Head: She sits by the Sea-side—she must be some Foreign Princess.

(To Thunderdale): I am certain you will conquer, for an Angel with gilded Wings holds a Laurel to you—an undoubted Sign of Triumph.

(To Galligantus): And you’ll be married, my Lord, to the great Fortune you have courted so long—here you are at the very Top of the Cup, and all your rivals are under your Feet—O, she has a vast Estate, I see Acres with Cattle feeding on them, Trees loaded with Fruit, Rivers and Ponds full of Fish—you’ll be a happy Man—you have been with her lately, I believe. [He responds that she didn’t treat him kindly.] I see now she was reserved—there was a little Cloud between you—but ’twill do for all that, my Lord; or I’ll never turn a Cup again.

Queen Folly. You shall be satisfy’d anon—but we must lay the Cards first. Give us the Cards, that in our several Turns we all may Cut: I am the Queen of Hearts.

[First Woman gives the Cards to Folly, then to each of the Gyants, who cut, and deliver ‘em to her again, and she lays ‘em on the Table in Rows.]

First Woman. You, Lord Gormillan, are the King of Clubs; Lord Thunderdale shall be the angry Majesty of Spades; the Diamond Crown Lord Blunderboar shall wear; and King of Hearts Lord Gallivants shall assume.

The Knave of Spades, Madam, seems to threaten Danger, but he lies oblique [diagonal], and the Ten of Hearts between them shews he wants Power to hurt you—the Eight of Clubs and Ace over your Head denote a cheerful Bowl, and Birth will crown Night—all will be well—these Princes are surrounded with Diamonds; the Eight lies at the Feet of Lord Gormillan; the Deuce, the Four and Five are in a direct Line with Valiant Thunderdale; the Tray and Nine are at Elbow of great Blunderboar, and the Six and Seven are just over the Head of noble Gallivants. Some Spades of ill Aspect are mingled with them, but the Hearts and Clubs take off their malevolent Quality.

[Jack and his Party enter. They throw down the Table, Cups, Cards, etc.]

A battle ensues. Jack slays the Giants. The Genius of the Isle [of Britain] descends, giving the Wand of Reason to Jack who touches Folly with it. She turns into a Monster garbed in Snakes. The mob declare themselves against her. Jack touches her a second time with the Wand, the ground opens and she sinks beneath it. Reason’s declared triumphant.

The Layout

The method of reading playing cards is remarkably similar to laying out the Lenormand deck. All the cards are laid in a series of rows. One then finds the person’s Significator and reads the cards immediately around it. You can also examine the cards of significant others or cards that reflect topics of concern. The layout may have looked something like this 4×13 layout, although they might have used 6 rows of 9 cards (except the 6th row with 7).

In a later play called The Astrologer: A Comedy, Ralph seems to allude to Jack the Giant-Killer when he writes:

“This is an Age of Reason, Man we see with our own Eyes, and give no Credit to what surpasses our Understanding.”” True, Sir; but my Father’s as superstitious as if he had liv’d two Centuries ago. . . . “ ” Men are more ashamed of this Folly, but not less inclin’d to it: witness the very Nonsense of Coffee-Grounds, which is grown into a Science, and become the Morning Amusement of Numbers, in every Corner of the Kingdom.”

In June of 1834, Marie Catherine Sophie, Comtesse d’Agoult (later known as the writer Daniel Stern), at the urging of her friend, novelist Eugène Sue, sought a reading with Mlle. Lenormand that promised great things. Four days later a hopeful Eugène Sue obtained a reading. Both Marie d’Agoult’s reading and that of M. Sue are recounted in her memoirs.

Thus we learn of Eugène’s unrequited love for Marie and a prediction of her future that was soon to take an astonishing turn. The following year Marie divorced her husband and met the pianist and composer Franz Liszt, with whom she had three illegitimate children (one of whom became the celebrated and influential wife of Richard Wagner).

Here is Marie d’Agoult’s own account.

I went to Mlle. Lenormand on 23 June of the year 1834, at the suggestion of the famous novelist, Eugene Sue, who spoke to me of her as a prodigious person through her power of penetration and intuition. Mlle. Lenormand then lived in the rue de Tournon and gave her consultations from a very dark, dirty, and strongly musty room, to which, using some pretty childish tricks, she had given an air of necromancy.

It was no longer the period of her brilliant fame, when, by virtue of her prediction to Madame de Beauharnais, she had achieved credit with the greatest rulers of Europe – it will be recalled that, at the Congress of Aachen, Alexandre visited her frequently and seriously; Lord Wellington also consulted her to learn the name of the man who had attempted to assassinate him in 1818; she was now almost forgotten. Few people knew the way to her home.

Old, thick, sordid in her attire, wearing a square cap, how medieval she appeared, backlit in a large greasy leather armchair at her table covered with cabalistic cards; a large black cat meowed at her feet with a witch’s air. The prompt and piercing glance of the diviner, thrown on the sly, as she shuffled her cards—for a few francs in addition to the common price for what she called the big game (grand jeu)—she revealed to one, without doubt, the kind of concern and mood of the character of the one who consulted her and helped to predict a future that, after all, for each of us, and except for the very limited intervention of chance, is the result of our temperament and character.

What she said amazed me because I did not know myself then, otherwise I could have, to some extent, been my own oracle, and predicted, without consulting anyone [else], what my destiny would be. On my way home, I noted down what Mlle. Lenormand had said to me. I’ve copied it here for those curious about these kinds of meetings.

“There will be a total change in your destiny in the next two or three years. What would appear to you at this time, to be absolutely impossible will come true. You will entirely change your way of living. You will change your name thereafter, and your new name will become famous not only in France but in Europe. You will leave your country for a long time. Italy will be your adopted country; you will be loved and honored.

“You’ll love a man who will make an impression in the world and whose name will make a great clamour. You inspire strong feelings of enmity in two women who will seek to harm you by all means possible. But have faith; you will triumph through everything. You will live to be old, surrounded by true friends, and you will have a beneficial influence on a lot of people.

“Pay attention to your dreams that warn you of danger. Distrust your imagination that enthuses easily and will throw you in the path of danger, which you will escape through great courage. Moderate your benevolence which is blind. Expect that your mind, which is independent and sincere, will make you a lot of enemies and your kindness will be ignored.”

I also found, among my correspondence with Eugene Sue, a letter which refers to Mlle. Lenormand, and I have joined it here to supplement what I have told of this incident.

Letter of Eugène Sue,Paris, June 27, 1834.

I have taken leave of our diviner, Madam, and I cannot but express my disappointment. You asked me to tell you the predictions she made me, as unpleasant as they are: so here they are:

You see, Madam, that the damned Sibyl varied at least in her prophecies, and your brilliant and European destiny contrasts badly with mine. After I was recognized as one of her assiduous believers, the accursed witch made me a few insignificant predictions, reminded me of others, and then suddenly, stopping to mix the diabolical cards, she fixed me with her penetrating and mocking eyes:

“Ho Ho!” said she, “here is something new and fatal. You are feeling a sentiment that she will not respond to.”

I wanted to deny it; she insisted. She spoke to me of a rare spirit of infinite charm; she painted for me a portrait that I would not dare recount here, but which was not unrecognizable. Then, seeing I was so completely divined, I was silent. I limited myself to asking her if there was, therefore, no hope, if some card had not been forgotten, if the combination was without error. The old woman began to re-calculate with an infernal complacency.

Alas! Madame, the result was absolutely the same: a deeply passionate feeling, without any hope, disturbed my present and destroyed my future. You see, Madame, in comparing this prediction to that which was made to you, I am doubly subject to accuse the fates; because it is said that the man whose destiny you will share will be famous, from which I conclude that the lover you push away will remain obscure. Oh well, Ma’am, I dare confess it to you, this glory announced to the man whom you will deign to love, I dreamed about it, I aspired to it, I felt strong enough to win it; but now that it is foretold that I will not be loved, I’ve dropped from the height of my dreams and ambitions to sadness and discouragement, empty of heart and spirit.

How many of us go to a movie or a play—even a really good one—and a couple of days or weeks later don’t remember a thing about it? Yes, movies have a role in relaxation and just plain momentary enjoyment, but there can be something said for the longer term pleasure of ruminating over the themes, questions and ideas presented in good art.

I have found Tarot and, more recently the 36 Lenormand cards, a great aid in meditating on ideas and art. This came into focus when I went to see the outstanding film The Imitation Game, about Alan Turing cracking the Enigma Code that helped end WWII. Themes also include the unconscionable way homosexuals have been treated and, ultimately, what is fair and just? I’ve put aside, for this discussion, the question of how accurate the film is—after all it is art, which serves to entertain and make us think and feel. [Trailer here.]

Note: if you know even the basics of Turing’s story, there is only one real spoiler below (so marked).

Before seeing The Imitation Game, I drew three cards each from the Petit Lenormand and a Tarot deck as separate readings. I wished to compare, in part, how the messages I received would differ in terms of plot versus philosophical themes, character dilemmas or spiritual content. I knew only the broadest outline of Turing’s achievement: the facts mentioned above.

I asked: “What should I focus on in this movie to gain the greatest insights?”

Before the movie, I summed up my page of notes: “Risky strategy pays off by protecting Britain.”

Fox is cunning, trickery, strategy; and in modern Lenormand can mean a job.

Clover is luck, chance, risk, fortuitous, brief.

Bear is strength, protection or envy; modern meanings include investment, gain and authority figures like CEOs or police and military.

In my method of doing line-readings the first card is the subject, so Clover modifies Fox: a risky strategy. Clover also serves as a verb, “pays off” leading to a future result: protection (Bear). I also considered that these cards could indicate a fortuitous relationship between an employer (Bear) and a worker (Fox), although with Fox and Bear looking in opposite directions, they might have different agendas. Furthermore, Bear could resent and be envious of the smartness of Fox. After the movie, I also considered Fox+Clover as “code-breaking” and Bear as the fearsome enemy (Bear is described as a “ferocious beast” in the oldest text). So we simply have: “breaking the Nazi code.”

Imagine my surprise when the movie opens with a film of a bear! It turned out to be the logo of the production company: Black Bear. Part way into the movie Turing makes an unsuccessful attempt to tell a joke about two people running into a bear:

“The first one says, ‘You can’t outrun a bear.’ And the second one responds, ‘I don’t have to. I only have to outrun you.'”

This is a cunning strategy that can pay off when Fox is confronted by Bear. (Later I learned that Turing’s childhood toy bear—I seem to remember it being shown late in the film (?)—was his constant companion and is now featured in a display at Bletchley Park where the code-breaking took place.)

At a more abstract level, Turing could be seen as the intelligent Fox, with Bear representing his monster of a machine that he named Christopher—after his only childhood friend who protected him at school. Additionally, Fox, which can also represent something false, a faked ploy, is key to how these cards can relate to the “Turing Test” of artificial intelligence and especially Turing’s example of it in his “Imitation Game.”

From the 78-card Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck I received:

Tower reversed – Justice – Devil

Having three Major Arcana cards indicates deeply “destined” circumstances. I tried two summing ups: “Justice (logic/right) ends the War with Evil (material dominion).” or “Choosing materialism/shame (Devil as outcome) versus (Justice) a cover-up of flaws and problems (Tower reversed).”

The Devil is utmost materiality; power structures; ego; shame; blame. (The parallel to Bear as envious, ferocious beast is notable.)

I considered that Justice in the center represented a balancing act between the Tower R and the Devil. Was shame (the Devil) somehow balancing an end to war (Tower)? Or was it more about needing to find a solution (Justice) that would keep the pressure-cooker from exploding (Tower reversed) that would let evil reign?

Mild Spoiler Alert:

Contemplating these cards since seeing the film, I see a much deeper issue hinted at by the movie—perverted justice done by a blind institution that causes great harm. I’ve learned from reading Lenormand that we have to see cards as being modified by what surrounds them. Justice doesn’t have to be reversed to indicate injustice—the Devil following Justice can show the great evil that justice itself can do. When a person is seen as “inverted” (“inversion” is an old classification for homosexual) then grave injustices are done. A point has been made that the royal “pardon” of Turing for his conviction as a homosexual is a travesty as he was guilty under the law and therefore “justly” convicted as were the 47,000 other men who were also convicted (and not pardoned). What we are shocked by is that a hero who saved millions of lives should have been treated so badly—but is that just to all the others? These cards indicate the reaction of today’s viewers that the “justice” against “inversion” was heart-breakingly “wrong,” while, according to the time, it was not, despite the fact that we now see the institution itself (the law) as as a great evil.

Major Spoiler Alert:

Upon breaking the Enigma Code, the team is faced with the realization that they cannot stop the Nazi attacks as that would reveal to the Nazis the breaking of the code and the immediate termination of its use. British intelligence would have to allow the killing and destruction to continue in order to know what the Germans were up to. I see this horrifying realization as the main climax of the film, perfectly depicted by the Tarot cards: the breakthrough that could end the war and the decision to allow great evil to continue as the only rational thing to do.

Added: A final summarizing of these Tarot cards in terms of the film:To achieve true justice and the reversal of a destructive course there will be collateral damage (bad things happen).

I still find the Tarot to be the much deeper of the two decks, but the Lenormand cards astound me again and again with their uncanny precision and succinctness. As mentioned above, I’ll leave to you the implications of these cards to the Turing Test of artificial intelligence and his “Imitation Game.” Feel free to comment on these below.

Fashion is constantly changingBut as long as the world existsThe Gypsy with an old pack of cardsWill have at least one client…Someone longing for bizarre miraclesWill knock on her doorAnd she will lay out in front of himThose noble kings of hers…What can I say? What can I say?All humans are just like this –They want to know, want to knowWant to know the futureWhat can I say? What can I say?All humans are just like this –They want to know, want to knowWant to know the future

Card-reading can foretell happinessOr an unexpected blow of fateImprisonment and a long journeyOr everlasting faithful love…Old cards will spread out like a fanOn a shawl decorated with fringeAnd suddenly the Gypsy herselfWill believe her noble kings…What can I say? What can I say?All humans are just like this –They want to know, want to knowWant to know the futureWhat can I say? What can I say?All humans are just like this –They want to know, want to knowWant to know the future.

Time destroys granite castlesAnd covers towns with sandBut years don’t mean anythingFor those cards in the Gypsy’s hands…The heart melts as the fortune-teller speaksAnd at all the crossroads of the worldThe noble kings are telling liesWith the same expression on their faces…What can I say? What can I say?All humans are just like this –They want to know, want to knowWant to know the futureWhat can I say? What can I say?All humans are just like this –They want to know, want to knowWant to know the future.

I’m happy to announce that I will be presenting, in webinar format, my recent slide-show on the Petit Lenormand Deck. It was showcased at the latest San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium to great acclaim. Of course a few things will change (to make it even better), and I’ll have more time to explain the concepts shown. Here’s the description:

Webinar with Mary K. Greer

“Introduction to the Petit Lenormand Deck”

Discover the 36-card Lenormand deck via this 64-slide visual feast covering the history, variety of decks and a brief overview of reading methods and traditions. What’s so special about the Lenormand deck? Where did it come from? What does Mlle. Lenormand have to do with it? How is this deck different than or similar to Tarot? What can it do for me and how do I read with it? Learn how the Lenormand cards clued me into something that saved a trip from certain disaster. Discover what the hoopla is all about and get a look at these 212+ year old cards that have exploded onto the divinatory scene in the last three years. Join me in exploring one of the most practical and precise divinatory tools in existence.

I recommend the series of youtube videos by Claire (from Germany but in English) that introduce each of the cards. While each country has its own variations there are still enough commonalities that share core meanings, and Claire is good at presenting these (click on the youtube link).

Additional Resources

I also recommend the list of basic Lenormand card meanings found at Helen Riding’s blog, MyWingsofDesire. And don’t miss out on her other great Lenormand pages and the links on her site.

Donnaleigh de LaRose has a whole page of media-based Lenormand Lessonsfrom her blogtalk “BeyondWorlds” radio shows with Rana George and Melissa Hill, as well as her own youtube videos.

Heidi Kabel as Die Kartenlegerin

The German word for Cartomancer is Kartenlegerin. A YouTube search brings up two fascinating works. The first is the amazing singer/actor Heidi Kabel as the card reader in the made-for-TV play, Die Kartenlegerin (1968). A rough translation by Alexander Kurzwernhart of the reading is available in the Comments. One thing to note is the method of “counting cards,” which is a key cartomancy technique used when reading a layout of the whole deck (usually 32, 36 or 52 cards). One counts 5, 7 or 9 cards in any direction from the querent’s significator and from the significator of the ‘person of interest’. (It looks like she’s stabbing the cards with her finger.) Fast forward to Minute 6:00 to begin the reading.

Schumann’s – Die Kartenlegerin, Op.31 No.2

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) wrote this song in 1840 (based on a poem in French “Les cartes ou l’horoscope” by Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780-1857)), about a young girl stopping her sewing to quickly read her cards while her mother sleeps. Learn more about it here. The translation comes from the Lotte Lehmann League. You might want to listen to the music while you read the English lyrics.

Has mother finally fallen asleep
Over her book of sermons?
You, my needle, now lie still,
Stop this constant sewing.
I shall read the cards,
Oh, what things can I expect,
Oh, how will it all end?
If I am not deceived,
One, I think of, will appear,
Great, here he comes,
The knave of hearts knows his duty.
A rich widow? oh dear.
Yes, he woos her, I’m undone,
Oh! the wicked scoundrel.
Heartache and much vexation,
A school with restricting walls,
But the king of diamonds will take pity
And comfort me.
A nicely delivered present,
He elopes with me, a journey,
Money and happiness in abundance.
This king of diamonds
Must be a prince or king,
Which means that it won’t take much
For me to be a princess.
Here’s a foe, who strives to soil
My name before His Majesty,
And a fair-haired man stands by me.
A secret comes to light,
And I escape just in time,
Farewell, O life of splendor,
Ah, that was a cruel blow.
The one is gone, a crowd
Surges around me
That I can scarcely count them all.
What’s this?
A dumb female apparition,
A wheezing old woman coming my way,
To banish love and happiness
Before my youth has gone?
Ah, it’s mother, who’s woken up,
Opening wide her mouth to scold.
No, the cards never lie.

In 1896 a gem of a book called What the Cards Tell appeared by “Minetta.” Minetta also wrote a book on teacup fortune telling. A special deck by her appeared around 1898 (see ad below), followed by “The Gypsy Bijou Fortune Telling Cards” with a guide by Minetta (Foulsham & Co., 1910; republished 1969). Minetta’s book came out in several subsequent editions, including a 1918 expanded edition called Card Reading: A Practical Guide (William Rider; introduced by Sepharial) that includes a section on tarot using the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.Minetta’s first edition recounts the history of the tarot as follows:

“Since three thousand years before Christ, the art of Cartomancy has been in vogue. Many ancient adepts consulted the oracle before venturing on any great undertaking. The Chinese used to engrave plates of copper and silver with designs of similar import to those in modern use. The Hebrews engraved the sacred symbols of the Tarot on plates of gold, and these were afterwards copied by the Kabalists, and notably by Simeon-bar-Jachai, to whom we owe our knowledge of the Book of Hermes. The art of Divination was in vogue among the adepts of the religious orders in times past, and the vulgar imitation was permitted by them the better to veil from public knowledge the true secrets of the sacred science.”

This brief history contains the much heard claim that the true occult secrets are being veiled from the public. I mention this because I regularly get emails from people asking about the secrets that Waite hid as people are still convinced that someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

What’s most interesting to us is the spread Minetta calls “Method II,” which also appears in a book by Madame Xanto in 1901 and in 1903 in a book by Mme. Zancig (from which comes the illustration below). It may be what inspired Waite’s Ancient 10-card Spread, as it appears to be one of the oldest spreads that is not based on cards placed in lines or a fan, but rather forms a picture.

“Those cards which crown the Significator predict the near future; those at the feet, the past; those to the left, obstacles; those to the right, the distant future; the top corners, present details; those at the feet, the past details; the card on top of the Significator [covers it], the consolation.” The book also notes that, “If the Nine of Hearts [Cups] comes out in the thirteen, it augurs good luck for the consulter and success to his wishes.”

Originally it was laid out around the significator: above, below (inner); above, below (outer); left, right (inner); left right (outer); left, right (corners above); left, right (corners below); final card crosses the significator. Later it was laid out as a cross: above, below, right, left (inner); above, below, right, left (outer); rest as above.

Who was “Minetta”?

There’s some thought that she might have been Waite himself, who had just published, through Redway, his own Handbook of Cartomancy and Divination, advertised in the same work as Minetta’s cartomancy deck. Usually the authors of popular fortune-telling books are hack writers for the publisher, using a mysterious pseudonym. Another clue lies in the fact that Minetta is the name of a young but resourceful gypsy fortune-teller in W. H. G. Kingston’s book, Fred Markham in Russia: The Boy Travellers in the Land of the Czar. Kingston (1814-1880) wrote more than 130 adventure tales for boys (although is best known for his translations of Jules Verne—which were actually translated by his wife!). In his autobiography Waite wrote about his own youthful fondness for such adventure stories. On the other hand, the style is gentler and not near as bombastic as Waite’s.

A Lagniappe*

Even authors of fortune telling books don’t want to be seen as gullible and so tend to hedge their bets by making sure that everyone knows they aren’t complete believers. Here is a typically convoluted, yet perspicacious, disclaimer, written by the male author of a fortune telling book: The Cup of Knowledge: A Key to the Mysteries of Divination by Willis MacNicol (1924):

“The male sex holds aloof, and leaves the ladies to ‘perform these follies.’ Some ascribe it to man’s superiority; or, as briefly summed up by a member of their sex, who when declaiming against the possibility of the future being made visible, said, ‘with all apologies to you, I must say I am not so profoundly stupid as to believe in these things; it cannot be anything more than rot.’ It is remarkable how such protests die away when some remarkable manifestation has been made by the cup in accurately predicting some event of the distant future that, at the time, appeared absurd and impossible of happening. Women may lawfully claim superiority with regard to her intuitive faculty, and thus she is well equipped for exercising her divinatory powers.”

* “Lagniappe” is a Louisana term for a little something extra (like a 13th donut in a dozen); supposedly it was originally a Peruvian Quechua word that traveled with the Spanish conquistadors, ending up with a French spelling.

About

Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me HERE.